DIY Frosted Votive Candle Holders
DIY Frosted Votive Candle Holders

Hi, Pretty Handy Girl Readers! I’m back today with a super simple and inexpensive project that you can use for the upcoming holiday season. Or anytime, really!  These DIY frosted votive candle holders are made from old yogurt jars (Yoplait by Oui jars).

This brand of yogurt comes in the cutest little glass jars and I’ve found so many uses for them, like my fairy jar macrame hangers and cinnamon stick candle holders.

Here’s how to make these DIY frosted votive candle holders:

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Instructions:

Follow these simple instructions to make these pretty votive candle holders!

Step 1: Clean your Jars

Here’s the easiest way to clean the jars. Place the jars in a bowl filled with hot, soapy water. Let them soak for a bit.

Wash jars in hot soapy water and dry

After soaking, use a tea towel to dry them and help remove most (if not all of the) sticker residue. Use Goo Gone to remove any remaining sticker residue.

You will find at this point that most of it will just rub right off. If not, put the jars in the dishwasher to get them nice and clean.

Step 2: Spray Paint your Jars

Place jars in a box to prepare for spray painting

As with all spray painting and painting projects, it’s best to spray outside in a well-ventilated area (and use protective eyewear and a mask).

Spray your jars using light and even coats to avoid drips and runs in your paint. It’s best to go easy and commit to building up the paint over time. This spray paint dries in just 5-10 minutes! You will be able to tell where you might need more spray paint after giving it time to dry. Spray your jars with 2 coats for the best coverage.

I spray painted both the inside and outside of my jars, but that might not be necessary depending on the look you want.

Jars become more frosted looking as they dry (2)

As this paint dries, it becomes more opaque and frosted looking. It’s really cool to watch the paint magic happening before your eyes!

Completed Frosted Votive Candle Holders

Step 3: Enjoy your Jars!

Once your jars are fully dry, you can decorate with them! I love these frosted jars with tea light candles. But you could also use fairy lights for a unique look.

Frosted Candle Holders hold fairy lights too

Buy tea candles in bulk from stores like Amazon or IKEA. You can also pick up seasonal candles from places like Target if you wanted a nice Fall or Holiday scent.

DIY Frosted Votive Candle Holders (1)

Another idea?

I’m a huge fan of the flameless candles, as long as they are realistic and cast a warm glow (not a fake orangey one!) You can buy flameless tea light candles just about anywhere these days. If you want my personal opinion, Pottery Barn and Luminara make pretty realistic ones and the light is very warm and pretty. Amazon is chock full of options for flameless tea lights.

If you are planning a holiday get together or a party (even a wedding), these candles will be the perfect finishing touch for your tables and decor. Bonus: they are so inexpensive and easy to make.

I hope you guys have fun with this one! And I hope Yoplait never stops making this yogurt because I love these little jars!

For even more ideas, check out these festive votive candle holders right here on Pretty Handy Girl!

See you all next month!  Thanks for reading!

karen signature

~ See More of Karen’s Tutorials ~


karen from decor hintHello!  I’m Karen, the creator of the Home Decor and DIY Blog: Decor Hint. I’m a Native of the East Coast, but I currently live in beautiful Seattle with my hubby, our two wonderful children, and our spunky wheaten terrier.

You can usually find me with some sort of craft in one hand and a coffee in the other. And I’m always rearranging furniture or moving lamps from room to room. I have a passion (read: obsession) for decorating, DIY, and gardening. In short, I love making my house into a home.

Like many, I’m inspired by what I see in home decor magazines, but I’m not so inspired by the price tags.  Consequently, I love finding and creating beautiful budget-friendly home decor items. In a head to head competition, I bet you’d never know the difference between the designer items and my DIY creations!  Many of my DIY projects focus on sewing, crafting, upcycling and organizing. Some of my favorite projects have been making pretty wreaths, sewing my own tassel hand towels, and crafting these trendy wood bead garlands. I can’t wait to inspire you and spark your creativity through my DIY projects.

You can always connect with me on Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram.

Farmhouse Painted (chalk like paint) Jar Vases | Pretty Handy Girl

Farmhouse Painted (chalk like paint) Jar Vases | Pretty Handy Girl

Two weeks ago was Teacher Appreciation Week at my son’s school. Every year I have a bit of a knee jerk reaction to this week. Is it because I don’t appreciate my sons’ teachers and administrators? Definitely not true! I appreciate them more than I can ever show. It’s a joke in our house that if I homeschooled, we probably wouldn’t have children. We all need that time away. And, my kids are so headstrong, that they learn much better from talented educators that don’t tuck them in bed at night.

So, why you ask do I have a knee jerk reaction? Let me explain.

Two weeks ago I spent less than 20 minutes whipping up some really cute vases using recycled jars painted with Farmhouse Paint. Wait…What is this paint?

Farmhouse Painted (chalk like paint) Jar Vases | Pretty Handy Girl

Well, it’s “paint formerly know as chalk paint”  (don’t even get me on the soap box about everyone else not being able to call it chalk paint anymore because a particular company has trademarked the name. I mean, that’s like saying that no one can call it latex paint anymore because Brand X trademarked it. Sorry, I get riled up easily.)

Anyway, back to my story, I made these adorable little vases by saving up a bunch of recycled jars.

Farmhouse Painted (chalk like paint) Jar Vases | Pretty Handy Girl

Then I painted them with two coats of Farmhouse Paint. I’m in love with this paint. The colors are vibrant and you don’t need to wax after painting. Just a light sanding with fine grit sandpaper and it give you the same soft sheen as waxing would.

Farmhouse Painted (chalk like paint) Jar Vases | Pretty Handy Girl

After the paint has dried I sand some areas (especially on any writing).

Farmhouse Painted (chalk like paint) Jar Vases | Pretty Handy Girl

Finally, I added some fresh cut flowers from my yard and tied a string around the neck with a personal message.

Farmhouse Painted (chalk like paint) Jar Vases | Pretty Handy Girl

These little vases were adorable. They were cute and they seriously took me less than half an hour to put together (20 minutes to paint and a few more minutes cutting flowers in the yard.)

When I arrived at school, I began distributing the flowers. First the principal’s office — her desk was filled with more flowers vases than a florist’s counter. And the overflow was on her conference table.

     Farmhouse Painted (chalk like paint) Jar Vases | Pretty Handy Girl

The assistant principal’s desk had the same overcrowded vase problem.

I made my way around to my sons’ classrooms. Tins of cookies and more vases littered their desks. I was sad. Although I knew they appreciated the kind gifts, it must be overwhelming to get everything on one day or one week of the school year.

After the week is over and the cookies are gone, what is there? Nothing. Desks filled with papers to grade of course. But, no gifts; no notes of appreciation; no flowers…nothing.  That appreciation day is long forgotten.

That’s why I’m doing something different next year. Heck, I might even do some appreciating at the end of this school year!

Where are the gifts and flowers during the first week of school when the kids are scared, tired, disappointed, weepy for their Mom and Dad? Where are the gifts when the principal and other administrators have to deal with outraged parents because the school bus didn’t come on time to pick up their child? Or worse yet, what about the day after a weeknight Halloween? I know the children pour into their seats sleep-deprived and burned out after a high sugar evening. Heaven help me this year when Halloween falls on a Friday night. I might check into a hotel for two nights.

Anyway, I’m vowing to appreciate the staff and teachers at my sons’ school on any old ordinary day from now on. I’m sure that a small recycled jar turned into a sweet little vase of flowers will surely brighten the day of one tired educator. I may even slip a little gift card underneath. I know in our state, teachers are not paid nearly enough and we are facing a crisis as teachers leave schools searching for better paying jobs.

To all the teachers, school staff and administrators out there. I APPRECIATE you more than you will ever realize! Please forgive me if I don’t bring you a gift during Teacher Appreciation Week. I’ll surprise you some other time. 😉

Farmhouse Painted (chalk like paint) Jar Vases | Pretty Handy Girl

What do you say? Why not whip up a little painted vase to appreciate your child’s teacher on Monday. Or the last week of school? Or just on one ordinary not celebration day. Am I crazy? Doesn’t this make sense to you?

PHGFancySign

P.s. Did you like the chippy paint board backdrop I used? It’s not real wood, it is actually a vinyl backdrop made by my good friend Leen the Graphics Queen. It rolls up and stores neatly away. She should be selling them soon.

 

Pin for later!

DIY Chalk Paint Mason Jar Flower Vase

Budget Friendly Gift Idea Pinnnable

With summer right around the corner, summertime barbecues and pool parties aren’t far behind! When a friend takes time to plan an event, Jacque and I always try to come up with a unique idea for a party gift to bring them as a thank you!  Since summertime tends to bring with it, a slew of parties, we decided to come up with a creative, inexpensive host or hostess gift.  As luck would have it, on a random trip through Home Goods, we found a nice set of glassware for $6. With a little help from our vinyl cutter we could create custom stencils and make these glasses the budget friendly gift idea we had been looking for!

Libbey-Glass

Tools:

  • Vinyl Cutter
  • Small Utility Knife
  • Small Paint Brush

Materials:

  • Glasses
  • Vinyl
  • Transfer Tape
  • Etching Creme

 

Instructions:

To begin, you’ll need to choose some artwork.  If you’re using a Silhouette or Cricut vinyl cutter, consider browsing their graphics libraries for ideas.  Or if you like what we came up with we’ve included our custom downloadable Relax stencil file (you’ll need a DropBox account to download the file, but the good news is that DropBox is free ;-).)

Sunshine Relax Artwork

Use your vinyl cutter to create your stencil.  (Since there are a number of different cutters available, I won’t get into the instructions for each machine.)

Once your artwork has been cut into the vinyl, remove all of the excess material and cut the artwork into individual stencils. Read more

I have been dying to share this tutorial with you! This project was inexpensive and it made such a big impact in our mudroom. It started with a few Habitat ReStore light fixtures and some NEW! Martha Stewart glass paint and ended up adding some major “WOW Factor” to our entry.

Read more